Oct.18, 1968 : following an appearance at the National Jazz & Blues Festival in August, Joe embarks on a 10-date UK tour starting at the Newcastle Rutherford, Tyne & Wear. Including a Dec.8 gig with The Who and Arthur Brown. Tour will end Dec.20 at the Redcar Jazz club, Yorkshire.

22/06/2012

Left to right : US album #11 in Nov. 1969; US single A&M 1147, 11/1969 : Feb. 7, 1970 : this song reaches US #30 and earns a gold disk. The album which includes i.a. She Came In Through The Bathroom Window, Something, Let It Be is the last one featuring The Grease Band.

Other single references : GER Deutsche Grammophon Polydor 59 386, 11/1969; NL EMI Stateside 5 C 006-91012 M is released on Jan.2, 1970 and reaches the NL chart #18 the same month. Unissued in the UK.

French Joe Cocker! LP on EMI Stateside 2 C 062-90788, 1970.

Biography pt 3 : when Cocker returns to the UK he no longer has a recording contract, so takes up his Gas Board job again and plays only an occasional local gig. The Big Blues splits and Joe teams with Chris Stainton to write and record Marjorine and form The Grease Band in the course of 1964.

1965 : The Grease Band, with Cocker on vocals, Stainton on bass, Tommy Eyre on keys, Kenny Slade on drums and Alan Spenner and Henry McCullough both on guitars, play soul material in clubs and pubs across the North of England. Its first recording, a live version of blues standard "Saved", is on a a free flexidisk with the Sheffield University magazine TWIKKER...To be continued...

23/03/2012

1964 : after an audition for producer Mike Leander in Manchester, Gtr. Manchester, Joe Cocker is offered a contract with DECCA Records. He takes leave of absence from the Gas Board and travels to Decca's studio in London. He debuts with a version of Lennon/McCartney's I'll Cry Instead released on 4 September 1964. Despite a good performance and session help including i.a. Big Jim Sullivan and Jimmy Page (called at the time "Little Jim") on guitars; Bobby Graham on drums and The Ivy League on backing vocals (Peter Oakman on double bass ?), it flops and Cocker reportedly only 10 shillings in royalties. He joins his first professional band, The Big Blues, on a brief UK Tour with Manfred Mann and The Hollies and then tours US army bases in France. To be continued...

30/10/2011

B. John Robert Cocker, May 20, 1944, near Sheffield, S. Yorks, UK. In 1960 having left school, buys a cheap drumkit and forms a skiffle group with schoolfriends. He plays in brother Victor's skiffle group The Cavaliers at night, making his first public appearance at the Minvera Tavern in Sheffield. 1963 : when The Cavaliers change their name to Vance Arnold & The Avengers, Cocker steps out front and sings, changing his forename to Joe, after Cowboy Joe. He also sits in with local bands like Dave Berry & The Bruisers. To be continued...

Nov.6, 1968 : his distinctive cover of The Beatles With A Little Help From My Friends hits UK #1 for a week (Regal Zonophone HSS 1308, October 1968). Picture cover from France (EMI/Stateside FSS 612, October 1968. Belgium #11, 11/1968.

The Beatles are impressed with his version and send him a congratulatory telegram and place music press ads praising the record.

Subsequent TV exposure introduces a wider audience to Cocker's flailing, tortured stage movements (that we say today he was the inventor of the AIR GUITAR). Some find his performance distasteful and when he appears on the "Ed Sullivan Show", he is obscured by dancers as he sings.

Dec.14, 1968 : With A Little Help From My Friends peaks at US Billboard Top 100 #68.